What's your name, how did you meet Birgit and Klemens, how long ago?
My name is Guffi, that’s what they called me. A mix of “G”, because I’m a “Puch G” and the word “knuffig”, which in Austrian slang means “pretty”. We met in Austria 6 years ago when the military didn’t love me anymore. It was then that Birgit and Klemens gave me a second life.
Are you the first in their lives?
I am the first of my class. Before, the two had a tiny car, a Fiat Panda with
which they made their first big trip to the East. But for the trip to South America they wanted something
bigger and more robust.
After our first meeting, they completely dismantled me. All the parts of me were
scattered around the workshop, each piece was repaired, cleaned and reassembled. When I was
finally whole again, I felt very proud: It may have been a long time without
daylight, but I had never looked so pretty. And when they made me a
real off-road camper with a fiberglass bed and a pop-up roof, I knew it was
unique. This time was very exhausting for everyone, but it brought us together and now they know me inside out.
Where have they taken you and where do they want to take you?
For 3 weeks I crossed the sea from Europe to South America. We didn’t have time
to test the car before, so I was quite nervous when I arrived in Uruguay. Anyway,
I didn’t know any Spanish or if all the pieces were in the right place, I could only hope…
But I didn’t let them down, I took them to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world and spent almost a year
with them there when we couldn’t go out during the pandemic. All winter I kept them warm and when
they finally allowed us to travel again, I showed them beautiful Argentina and Bolivia. Now we are in Chile, but we want to go further, to Peru, Colombia and maybe even North America. Driving the Panamericana to the end, that would be a great dream for all of us… and a great challenge.
We want to see as much as possible of this world, other landscapes, cultures and of course the
mountains, because they are our second great passion besides traveling.
Do they plan or improvise?
They both usually have an approximate plan of where to go but they don’t always stick to it, in
general we have to go north as far as we can, along the way we want
to discover as much as possible.
What motivations are your travel companions?
We love exploring the mountains of other countries, hiking and discovering lonely places. And of course we love to eat: discovering what other countries have to offer is always exciting.
Any scare or breakdown?
So far, we’ve never had any scares. There have been a few breakdowns, but we have been lucky and have always been able to fix everything ourselves.
Guffi says goodbye sharing a lesson learned along the way.
Every adventure is worth it. It doesn’t matter how big or small it is, just go for it.
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